Interactive image-based document for secured data access

ABSTRACT

The present invention is directed to a method and system for verifying a user for copying or printing a limited portion of digital content while allowing the user to view the digital content. The digital content may have image portions that are digital images generally scanned from a printed page of the content and text portions that are digital texts including all forms of letters, characters, symbols, etc. An interactive image document displaying image portions of the digital content is provided for secure data access to text portions. A user can request and obtain a limited text portion of the digital content or view the image portions of the digital content via user interactions within the interactive image document. While the text portions can be reproduced, copied, or printed, the image portions can not be re-used or manipulated by the user due to their non-text accessible format.

BACKGROUND

As the use of computers and computer-based networks continues to expand,content providers are preparing and distributing more and more contentin electronic form. This content includes traditional media such asbooks, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, manuals, guides, references,articles, reports, documents, etc., that exist in print as well aselectronic media in which the aforesaid content exists in digital formor is transformed from print into digital form. The Internet, inparticular, has. facilitated the wider publication of digital content,such as portable document files and e-books, through downloading anddisplay of images of digital content. As data transmission speedsincrease, more and more images of pages of digital content are becomingavailable online. Generally, a page image containing representation oftext allows a reader to see the page of content as it would appear inprint.

Content in a certain digital form, such as images containing digitaltext, may be easily reproduced, copied, or distributed once a persongains access to the content. Given the easy reproduction capability ofthe digital content, one of the major concerns shared by content authorsor publishers may be how to prevent unauthorized copying or printing ofthe content in a digital form while allowing people to view (read) thecontent over a network. Thus, it is not uncommon that a content authoror a publisher wishes to only allow readers to view the digital content,but prevent them from copying or printing any portion of the digitalcontent. However, a reader who purchased a right to read the content ina digital form wants to have fair use of the content as if the readerpurchased the content in a print form. For example, when a reader wantsto quote a paragraph from the recently purchased electronic publicationinto his/her report, the reader may want to “copy and paste” theparagraph from the electronic publication instead of typing it.

Currently, most content providers face problems due to these differentpoints of view of the readers and the publishers. One major issue is howto prevent illegitimate use of the digital content (to satisfy contentoriginators or publishers) while allowing the legitimate printing orcopying of some portions of the content by readers. If readers are toorestricted from printing or copying portions of digital content, theymay be discouraged to purchase the digital content of electronicpublications. On the other hand, the publisher or the content originatormay be deterred from offering content in digital form if there is nosecure way to prevent excessive copying and printing that can eventuallylead to the illegitimate use of the content. Accordingly, there is aneed for system and method that resolves the different points of view ofthe readers and the publishers with respect to the use of the digitalcontent.

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This summary is not intended to identify key features ofthe claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid indetermining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a computer systemfor providing an interactive image document through which a useraccesses text data of digital content is provided. The computer systemincludes one or more data stores such as a text data store for storingtext portions of the digital content, an image data store for storingimage portions of the digital content, and a user and content profiledata store for storing verification information. The computer systemfurther includes a computing device in communication with the one ormore data store(s).

The computing device is operative to receive a user request to access aportion of the digital content, process the request to retrieve theportion of the digital content and present an interactive image page tothe user. When the user interaction indicating that a text portionaccess is desired is received, the computing device obtains from theuser and content profile data store verification information related tothe text portion access. The text portion corresponding to the userinteraction is identified. The user is verified whether the user has aright to access the text portion by applying the obtained verificationinformation. Upon verification, the computing device retrieves the textportion from the text data store and provides the retrieved text portionto the user.

In an aspect of the method, the verification information may includeseveral thresholds for several users' activities. For example, a totalaccess amount of the digital content, a total access amount of aparticular text portion, etc., and the corresponding thresholds may beincluded in the verification information. The computing device comparesthe total access amount of the text portion and a content threshold andif the total access amount of the text portion exceeds the contentthreshold, the computing device denies the verification. If theverification is denied, the computing device generates a usernotification.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of thisinvention will become more readily appreciated as the same become betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description, whentaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a pictorial diagram showing an exemplary computing environmentin which embodiments of the present invention may be implemented;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a content provider server in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 3A-3C are pictorial diagrams showing interactions among variouscomponents in the content provider server when a user accesses digitalimages in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 4A-4C are screen displays showing an interactive image documentthat enables a user to obtain a text portion of an image page inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 5A-5B are pictorial graphs showing digital content access patternsamong various users;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of an access content routine in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a content management subroutine inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of a text retrieving subroutine utilized inFIG. 7 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally described, the present invention relates to a method andsystem for verifying a user's right for copying, pasting, or printingsome portion of digital content. More specifically, the presentinvention relates to a method and system for providing an interactiveimage document displaying images of digital content for secure dataaccess to text data over a network. Through the interactive imagedocument, a user can obtain a limited portion of digital content forcopying or printing after the content service provider verifies theuser's access rights to the portion. Additionally, the present inventionmay relate to separation of a “text portion” and an “image portion” ofthe digital content. The “text portion,” as used herein refers todigital text including all forms of letters, characters, symbols,numbers, formulas, graphics, images, etc., that may be used to representinformation in the corresponding image portion. The “image portion,” asused herein refers to a digital image of information. For example, theimage portion may be scanned from a printed page of content. Generallythe image portion is represented in a non-text-accessible format. Theimage portion is utilized for the user to view (read) the digitalcontent within the interactive image document. While the text portioncan be reproduced, copied, or printed after a proper verification, theimage portion cannot be re-used or manipulated by the user.

The following detailed description describes exemplary embodiments ofthe invention. Although specific system configurations, screen displays,and flow diagrams are illustrated, it should be understood that theexamples provided are not exhaustive and do not limit the presentinvention to the precise forms and embodiments disclosed. It should alsobe understood that the following description is presented largely interms of logic operations that may be performed by conventional computercomponents. These computer components, which may be grouped at a singlelocation or distributed over a wide area on a plurality of devices,generally include computer processors, memory storage devices, displaydevices, input devices, etc. In circumstances where the computercomponents are distributed, the computer components are accessible toeach other via communication links.

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, itwill be apparent to one skilled in the art that the invention may bepracticed without some or all of these specific details. In otherinstances, well-known process steps have not been described in detail inorder not to obscure the invention.

The exemplary networked environment 100 includes one or more userdevices, such as user devices 142-146, by which a user (not shown) canview digital content over a network. The user devices 142-146communicate with a content provider server 110 that is responsible forproviding images of digital content (image pages) to user devices142-146 via a network. User devices, such as user devices 142-146, aretypically computing devices including a variety of configurations orforms such as, but not limited to, laptop or tablet computers, personalcomputers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), hybrid PDA/mobile phones,mobile phones, workstations, and the like. While illustrativeembodiments have been illustrated and described, it will be appreciatedthat various changes can be made therein without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention. In one embodiment, the user devices142-146 can be also connected to a content provider server 110 via acommunication network, such as a Local Area Network (LAN) or a Wide AreaNetwork (WAN). In an alternative embodiment, any user device 142-146 canbe a standalone user device that is configured to implement off-lineservices. The content provider server 110 is coupled to data stores 120,including a text data store and an image data store, each of whichincludes an entry corresponding to a digital content. As will beappreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, digital contentincludes images of any content in digital form, such as but not limitedto, e-books, electronically published news, electronically publishedmagazines, or the like. A data store, such as the content data store asused herein, is any type, form, and structure of storage in which datais maintained. For example, the data store may maintain data in adatabase form, such as a relational database, or as images. Any form,type, and structure may be used for maintaining electroniccontent/information in accordance with one or more embodiments of thepresent invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the content provider server 110 may beconnected to online data stores over a communication network such as aninternal network or public network connection. Further, as shown in FIG.1, the content provider server 110 may be connected to several contentrelated servers 125, including, but not limited to, content originators130, publisher partners 132, etc. The publisher partners 132 or contentoriginators 130 may provide content to the content provider server 110which will convert the received content into image portions and textportions suitable for the data stores 120. Those skilled in the art willappreciate that the various servers/components depicted in FIG. 1 areillustrative only. As mentioned above, an actual embodiment of a contentprovider server 110 may be comprised of a single computer or a pluralityof discrete, cooperative servers distributed in a communicationsnetwork. Similarly, the identified components should be viewed aslogical components as each component may be physically embodied on oneor more computer systems as well as combined with other hardware and/orsoftware components not illustrated herein.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary components of acomputing device 200 suitable for providing a text portion of a digitalcontent in response to a user selection. However, the followingdescription of the exemplary components of a computing device 200 shouldbe viewed as illustrative only and not construed as limiting in anymanner.

With regard to FIG. 2, the exemplary computing device 200 includes aprocessor 202 in communication with a variety of other components over asystem bus 220. These other components include, by way of example, anetwork interface 204, a user interface component 212, a contentmanagement component 208, and a memory 206. As appreciated by thoseskilled in the art, the network interface 204 enables the computingdevice 200 to communicate data, control signals, data requests, andother information with other resources including computers, datasources, storage devices, and the like, on a computer network such asthe Internet (not shown). The network interface 204 may be configured tocommunicate via wired or wireless connections. As one skilled in the artwill appreciate, the computing device 200 may retrieve a digital imagefrom a storage device or other source via the computer network, as wellas save the processed converted content to a networked location or sendit to another computer on the network.

The computing device 200 further includes one or more data stores suchas a text data store 214 for storing text portions of the digitalcontent and an image data store 222 for storing image portions of thedigital content. The image data store 214 provides images (imageportions) represented in a non-text-accessible format, such as in aJPEG, TIFF, GIF, and BMP file. The text data store 214 provides digitaltext data (text portions) including all forms of letters, characters,symbols, numbers, formulas, graphics, etc., that may be used torepresent information in the corresponding image.

In one embodiment, the computing device 200 may receive electronicimages (e.g., images page) containing text from the publisher partnersor content originators. The computing device 200 separates the textportion from the received electronic images, the resulting image portionto be represented in a non-text-accessible format, such as in a JPEG,TIFF, GIF, and BMP file. Alternatively, content in print form may bereceived and scanned into image pages using a suitable scanner inputdevice. The scanned image pages may be created to be an image portionrepresented in a non-text accessible format. The text portion may begenerated from the content in print form. In one embodiment, the imageportions and the text portions are separately stored in the image datastore 222 and the text data store 214, respectively. The image datastore 222 may be organized as desired, preferably using data structuresoptimized for identifying the corresponding text portion from the textdata store 214. In one suitable embodiment, each word in the text datastore 214 has associated therewith content identification numbers andpage numbers corresponding to an image portion in the image data store222 where the particular word is found.

The computing device 200 further includes a user and content profiledata store 216 for storing verification information. The user andcontent profile data store 216 enables the content provider server 110to control the scope and nature of the content (image portion or textportion) that can be displayed or presented to the user. The user andcontent profile data store 216 may include information about the user,for example, user profile information, account information, contentpurchase history, illegitimate use history, etc. A user may be permittedto view an entire image of content, such as a book, that the useralready purchased. For content not purchased by the user, the user maybe permitted to view only a limited portion of the page image orprohibited from viewing any portion of the content. Other information,such as information about content, including, but not limited to,content profile, several thresholds associated with the content,verification information, or the like, may be also included in the userand content profile data store 216.

The user interface component 212 receives user interaction via aninteractive image document displayed on the user devices 142-146. Theuser interaction may be received from a variety of input devicesincluding, but not limited to, a digital pen, a touch screen, akeyboard, a mouse, and the like. In addition to the exemplary componentsdescribed above, a content management component 208 may be used forverifying the user interaction and identifying a text portion inresponse to the user interaction. The content management component 208may first identify an image portion from the image data store and thenidentify the corresponding text portion.

The processor 202 is configured to operate in accordance withprogramming instructions stored in a memory (not shown). The memorygenerally comprises RAM, ROM, and/or other permanent memory. Thus, inaddition to storage in read/write memory (RAM), programming instructionsmay also be embodied in read-only format, such as those found in ROM orother permanent memory. The memory typically stores an operating systemfor controlling the general operation of the computing device 200. Theoperating system may be a general purpose operating system such as aMicrosoft Windows® operating system, a UNIX® operating system, a Linux®operating system, or an operating system specifically written for andtailored to the computing device 200. Similarly, the memory alsotypically stores user-executable applications or programs for conductingvarious functions on the computing device 200.

FIGS. 3A-3C are pictorial diagrams illustrating interactions amongvarious components in the content provider server and a user device whena user accesses digital images over a network. Referring to FIGS. 3A, auser 342 requests login access to a server 310 (e.g., content providerserver) configured to provide secure access to text data over a network.In response to the request, the server 310 retrieves information aboutthe user, for example, user profile information, account information,content purchase history, illegitimate use history, etc., from the userand content profile data store 316. The user 342 information may beapplied to verify the user 342 to access various content servicesprovided by the server 310. For example, the server may not allow a userto access a certain digital content if the user has not purchased aright to read, if the user has a history of illegitimate use of thedigital content, or the like. After applying the user information to theuser 342, the server 310 determines (verifies) a set of content serviceswhich the user 342 has a right to access.

Referring to FIG. 3B, after the user 342 requests to access image pagesof digital content, the server 310 identifies and retrieves imageportions of the digital content from the image data store 322. In oneembodiment, the server 310 may verify the user's request beforeproviding the image portions by checking the previously determined setof content services which the user 342 has a right to access. Further,as will be described in greater detail below, the content profileinformation relating to the requested digital content may be utilized toverify whether the content can be accessed by the user 342. In oneembodiment, several thresholds may be specified with respect to a user,a digital content, a portion of a digital content, or the like. Eachthreshold will be used to verify a user's access request. Afterverification, the server will provide an appropriate image portion(interactive image page) through which the user 342 can view the digitalcontent or select a portion of the digital content for requestingcorresponding digital text. In an alternative embodiment, the server 310may identify text portions of the digital content and afterverification, generate an interactive image page corresponding to thetext portions on the fly.

In an illustrative embodiment, the content profile information indicatesthat no user can access the particular digital content due to suspiciousactivities of a group of users. In an illustrative embodiment, thecontent profile information may include a content threshold associatedwith a digital content, which is used to limit a total value of“aggregated access” on the digital content. The total value of“aggregated access” used herein refers to a quantified amount of digitalcontent being copied, pasted, or printed by users within a predeterminedperiod. In the illustrative embodiment, the total percentage of digitalcontent accessed by users may be aggregated to monitor group behaviorsof users. For example, if a particular e-book has been accessed by fiveusers for a week and each user copied 10%, 25%, 25%, 10%, and 10% ofimage pages of the e-book, the total value of aggregated access to thee-book may be 80%. For another example, if a particular image page ofthe e-book has been accessed by three users for a week and each usercopied 1%, 15%, and 5% of the image page of the e-book, the total valueof aggregated access to the image page may be 21%. Based on the previousknowledge, the server defines a threshold for a particular type ofaccess, such as a total value of aggregated access, to preventunauthorized group behavior by users. In this manner, the server canmonitor potential illegitimate use of the digital content not only by asingle user but also by a group of users.

In one embodiment, the server may monitor whether the total value ofaggregated access to the digital content meets its threshold. Once thetotal value of aggregated access meets the threshold, the server willapply a set of rules, for example not allowing any user to copy or printthe digital content for a predetermined period. The result may be storedas part of content profile information associated with the digitalcontent. It is to be understood that this implementation of aggregatedaccess value is just one example. Various user access behaviors will bemonitored and the information related to accessing a digital content maybe collected and analyzed to prevent unauthorized group or individualbehaviors.

Referring to FIGS. 5A-5B, graphs 500, 510 illustrate digital contentaccess patterns among various users based on aggregated access values.More specifically, in FIGS. 5A-5B, a total value of aggregated access toeach chapter of an e-book is shown. In this example, the aggregatedaccess value may represent what percentage of each chapter has beencopied. Based on the total value of the aggregated access, chapterthresholds may be assigned. For example, based on the aggregated access,a general threshold of 30% may be assigned to one chapter while thetotal value of the aggregated access to a popular chapter resulted in athreshold of 60%. For the purpose of discussion, assume that the contentservice provider 110 has specified that, if the total value ofaggregated access to each chapter is close to the general threshold, itmay be a suspicious group behavior. As an example, the graph 500 shownin FIG. 5A may be regarded as indicating a suspicious group behaviorbecause all chapters have a similar access behavior. In contrast, thegraph 510 shown in FIG. 5B may be regarded as indicating a normal groupbehavior because interesting, or more popular chapters are accessed orcopied more frequently than others.

Referring back to FIG. 3C, the user 342 may send a copy/paste request tothe server 310 by selecting a portion from the interactive image page.The user 342 can select a portion from the interactive image page byhighlighting the portion by the user input device including, but notlimited to, a mouse, a digital pen, a keyboard, a touch screen, or thelike. The information related to the selected portion, such asinformation relevant to locate the selected portion from the image andthe text data store 314, may be provided to the server 310. An exampleof such information includes, but is not limited to, X-Y screencoordination of a start and an end of the selected portion within theinteractive image page, information about the interactive image page, orthe like.

After the information about the selected portion is provided to theserver, the corresponding text portion may be identified. If necessary,the server 310 will verify the user access right to the identified textportion. As will be described in greater detail below, severalthresholds can be utilized for such verification. For example, a textportion threshold (to limit the total amount of the text portionaccessed by a user or a group of users), a image page threshold (tolimit the total amount of the page accessed by a user or a group ofusers), a content threshold (to limit the total amount of the contentaccessed by a group of users), a user threshold (to limit total amountof the digital content accessed by a user), or the like may bespecified. The server 310 will use all or some of these thresholds toverify whether the user 342 has a right to access the identified textportion.

Upon verification, the server 310 retrieves the identified text portionfrom the text data store 314. Subsequently, the retrieved text portionis provided to the user 342, which can be re-used, copied or printed.After providing the identified text portion, the server 310 updates theuser and content profile data store 316 to reflect that the identifiedtext portion has been provided to the user 342.

FIGS. 4A-4C are exemplary screen displays 400 showing an interactiveimage page where a user can interact to obtain a text portion of a imagepage in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. For thepurpose of discussion, assume that a user is viewing digital images ofthe “U.S. CONSTITUTION” provided by the content provider server 110.Within the exemplary screen display 400, an interactive image pagecorresponding to a portion of “ARTICLE I” is presented to the user. Inan aspect of the present invention, the displayed image does not containany text information in order to protect the content from unauthorizedcopying. However, the user can select a portion from the displayed imageas shown in FIG. 4B. The selected portion 450 may be visuallydistinguished from the rest of the displayed image. For example, theselected portion can be highlighted, underlined, displayed in differentcolor or font, etc. After the selection, the user may request to obtaina text portion from the server. In one embodiment, a certain keycombination may be used to indicate a request to copy, paste, or printthe selected portion. In addition, a menu to select a copy, paste, orprint request may be provided within the exemplary screen display 400.The information related to the selected portion, such as informationrelevant to locate the selected portion from the image and the text datastore may be provided to the content provider server 110. Subsequently,the content provider server 110 will identify the text portion based onthe information. After proper verification, the content provider server110 provides the text portion 460 to the user as illustrated in FIG. 4C.The user can manipulate the text portion 460 for copying, pasting andprinting.

Referring to FIG. 6, a flow diagram 600 illustrates an access contentroutine for providing an image portion or a text portion of a digitalcontent to a user in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention. Beginning with block 602, the content provider server 110receives a user request to view digital content. At block 604, the userrequest may be processed to identify which image page of the digitalcontent is requested. Upon receipt of the user request, the contentprovider server 110 may also verify the user request with respect to thedigital content. As discussed above, the content provider server 110 mayobtain information about the digital content, such as content profileinformation, a content threshold, any rules related to the digitalcontent, etc., to verify the user request. Likewise, information aboutthe user may be also obtained to verify the user request. In someinstances, a certain portion of the digital content is prohibited frombeing offered to a certain group of users to view. In such a case, onlythe allowed portion will be retrieved and presented to the user.

At block 606, an image portion of the digital content is identifiedbased on the processed user request and the identified image portion isretrieved from the image data store 222. Subsequently, the contentprovider server 110 presents an interactive image page representing theimage portion to the user within a display window (e.g., a Web browserwindow). At block 610, user interaction is received via the interactiveimage page. An example of the user interaction may be a requestrequiring text portion access, such as a copy/paste request, a printrequest, etc. As described above, the image portion or the interactiveimage page is purposefully configured not to contain any text.information. Further, the interactive image page does not have aresolution high enough for visually pleasing printing. Thus, the usercannot copy, reproduce or print a part from the interactive image pagein sufficient quality unless a text portion of the part is provided bythe server. In this manner, the content provider server 110 can controlthe usage of the digital content while allowing the user to re-use somepart of the digital content.

At decision block 612, a determination is made as to whether thereceived user interaction indicates a text access request, such ascopying request, pasting request, printing request, etc., and thus, atext portion needs to be provided to the user. If it is determined atdecision block 612 that the received user interaction indicates a textaccess request, at block 614 a content management subroutine 700 (FIG.7) returns the corresponding text portion or a notification. If it isdetermined at decision block 612 that the text portion does not need tobe provided to the user, at block 618 the user interaction is processedand implemented. For example, the user interaction may indicate that theuser wants to view other portions of the digital content. This userinteraction does not require accessing the text portion. While this userinteraction is being processed, the server may retrieve the requestedimage portions of the digital content from the image data store 222. Insome instances, the user interaction may not be processed as the userindicated. The content provider server 110 generates a notification toexplain why the user interaction has not been processed as the userindicted.

After obtaining the result from the subroutine 700 (at block 614), orprocessing the user interaction (at block 618), the result (e.g., a textportion, a notification, an image portion, etc.) may be presented to theuser at block 616. The routine completes at block 620.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a content management subroutine foridentifying and providing a text portion in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. Beginning at block 702, informationrelating to a request for a text portion access is received. As withFIG. 6, the user interaction received over the interactive image pagemay be a request requiring the text portion access, such as a copyrequest, a paste request, a print request, etc. When the user selects adesired portion from the interactive image page, the content providerserver 110 may receive the relevant information including, but notlimited to, X-Y coordination of the start and the end position of theselected portion on the interactive image page. In addition, the contentprovider server 110 may obtain information relating to the interactiveimage page. Further, the content provider server 110 may obtain rulesand thresholds to verify the user's right for the text portion access asillustrated at block 704. At block 706, the corresponding text portionmay be identified. At decision block 708, a determination is made as towhether the user has a right to access the identified text portion. Ifit is determined at decision block 708 that the user is authorized toaccess the identified text portion, at block 710 a retrieve textsubroutine 800 retrieves the identified text and updates user andcontent profile data store 216. The retrieved text portion may beprovided as a result at 712.

If it is determined at decision block 708 that the user is notauthorized to access the identified text portion, at block 714 theservice provider generates a notification informing the user about thereason of unsuccessful text access. As described above, if the totalvalue of aggregated access to the particular text portion has met itsthreshold, any access to the text portion may be denied for apredetermined time period. Likewise, if the total value of aggregatedaccess to the particular digital content has met its threshold, anaccess to any text portion of the digital content may be denied for apredetermined time. As described above, some access patterns may bemonitored and detected as suspicious based on the aggregated accessinformation.

When a requested access is denied, a notification may be generated,explaining why the access is denied for a time being and when the accesscan be resumed. If the amount of total copy of the content by a singleuser has met its threshold (% of the digital content has been copied,accessed, etc.), the user is not able to access any more portions of thedigital content. In this situation, a notification informing the userabout the reason of unsuccessful text access may be generated. At block716, the generated notification is provided as a result. The routine 700returns the result from block 712 or block 716 and completes at block718.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram 800 of retrieve text subroutine for retrievinga text portion and updating the user and content profile data store 216in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Beginning atblock 802, the identified text may be retrieved from the text data store214. At decision block 804, a determination is made as to whether theidentified text has been previously retrieved for the particular user.If it is determined that the text portion has not been previouslyretrieved for the particular user, at block 806, the total access amountmay be increased by the size of the text portion. The total accessamount (total aggregated access information) may be compared with thethreshold at block 808. At block 810, the user and content profile datastore 216 will be updated based on the total access amount. For example,if the total access amount meets or exceeds the threshold, the contentprofile may be updated to specify a rule indicating that no user canaccess a text portion of the content for a predetermined period. If itis determined at decision block 804 that the text portion has beenpreviously retrieved for the particular user, the routine 800 continuesto block 812. After updating (block 810), if it is determined that thetext portion has been previously retrieved (decision block 804), theroutine 800 returns the retrieved text portion and completes at block812.

As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, the totalaccess amount and its threshold described in conjunction with theroutine 800 are described merely as an example. Any information relatingto control, monitor, manage user accesses to the digital content may beupdated (or aggregated by the retrieved text portion) and compared withits corresponding threshold. The user and content profile informationwill be updated to reflect such information.

While illustrative embodiments have been illustrated and described, itwill be appreciated that various changes can be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

1. A computer-implemented method for providing access to digitalcontent, the computer-implemented method comprising: as implemented byone or more computing devices configured with specific executableinstructions, presenting for display one or more portions of digitalcontent, such that text data representing information in the one or moredisplayed portions are prevented from being electronically copieddirectly from the one or more displayed portions; receiving a selectionby a user of a portion of the one or more displayed portions of digitalcontent, the selection indicating that copying text data representinginformation in the selected portion of digital content is desired; andin response to the user selection, retrieving a text portion from a datastore, wherein the text portion comprises text data representinginformation in the selected portion of the digital content; andproviding the obtained text portion to the user.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising verifyingthat the user has a right to obtain the text portion prior to providingthe text portion to the user.
 3. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 2, wherein verifying that the user has a right to obtain the textportion comprises determining if an amount of text data accessed exceedsa threshold.
 4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein theone or more displayed portions of digital content are displayed as partof an interactive image document.
 5. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein the one or more displayed portions of digital contentcomprise image data.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,wherein the obtained text portion provided to the user can be copied. 7.The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or moreportions of the digital content are displayed such that the one or moreportions are prevented from being directly printed, and wherein theobtained text portion provided to the user can be printed.
 8. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the received selectioncomprises a start location and an end location of the selected portionof digital content.
 9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium havinga computer-executable component for providing access to digital content,the non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising: a user interfacecomponent for: presenting for display one or more portions of digitalcontent, such that text data representing information in the one or moredisplayed portions are prevented from being electronically copieddirectly from the one or more displayed portions; and receiving aselection by a user of a portion of the one or more displayed portionsof the digital content; and a content management component for:retrieving a text portion from a data store, wherein the text portioncomprises text data representing information in the selected portion ofthe digital content; wherein the user interface component provides theretrieved text portion to the user.
 10. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the content managementcomponent further verifies whether the user has a right to obtain thetext portion corresponding to the selected portion of the digitalcontent.
 11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10,wherein verifying whether the user has a right to obtain the textportion is based at least in part on an aggregated access amountassociated with the digital content.
 12. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the aggregated accessamount corresponds to access to the digital content by a plurality ofusers.
 13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9,wherein the one or more displayed portions of the digital contentcomprise image data, wherein the retrieved text portion representsinformation in at least a portion of the image data.
 14. A system forproviding access to digital content, the system comprising: a data storeconfigured to store text portions of the digital content; a computingdevice in communication with the data store, the computing deviceconfigured to: present for display one or more portions of the digitalcontent, such that text data representing information in the one or moredisplayed portions are prevented from being electronically copieddirectly from the one or more displayed portions; receive a selection bya user of a portion of the one or more displayed portions; identify atext portion which corresponds to the selected portion, wherein the textportion comprises text data representing information in the selectedportion; verify whether the user has a right to obtain the text portioncorresponding to the selected portion; following verification, obtainthe text portion from the data store; and provide the obtained textportion to the user.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or moreportions of the digital content are displayed as part of an interactiveimage document.
 16. The system of claim 14, wherein the obtained textportion provided to the user can be copied.
 17. The system of claim 14,wherein the displayed one or more portions of the digital content aredisplayed such that the one or more portions are prevented from beingdirectly printed, and wherein the obtained text portion provided to theuser can be printed.
 18. The system of claim 14, wherein verifyingwhether the user has a right to obtain the text portion comprisesdetermining if an amount of text data accessed exceeds a threshold. 19.The system of claim 18, wherein the threshold corresponds to aggregatedaccess of the digital content by the user.
 20. The system of claim 18,wherein the threshold corresponds to aggregated access of the digitalcontent by a group of users.
 21. The system of claim 14, wherein thereceived selection comprises a start location and an end location of theselected portion of the digital content.